Paid, or Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay Per Click Advertising Explained

Paid Advertising includes Pay Per Click (PPC or CPC) advertising with any or all of the three major search engines, and in most cases proves shockingly profitable to clients. Recent changes to the way advertising online works allows advertisers to target specific geographic areas, times of day, languages, and more to allow maximum ROI.

Pay Per Click advertisements are identified as "Sponsored Links, Sponsored Sites, and Sponsored Results" in Google, Yahoo, and MSN, respectively, and are shown next to regular search results. Advertisers place bids on "keywords" that they believe their target market would search for when looking for their products or services. The advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad.

Pay Per Click ads are especially popular and effective to have running while the results of Search Engine Optimization are taking effect, since PPC/CPC advertising takes into effect immediately whereas Search Engine Optimization may take weeks or months, depending on certain factors of the website being promoted.

Paid Advertising belongs to a subset of Internet Marketing named Search Engine Marketing - the promotion of websites to search engines. There are two forms of Search Engine Marketing: Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click Advertising.

Search Engine Marketing - PPC compared to SEO

Search Engine Optimization is often the most favored form of internet marketing due to holding a larger share of traffic when compared to Paid Advertisements. (70% compared to 30% ). Additionally, the traffic from SEO is free. However;
Pay Per Clicks may be extremely profitable.

Paid Advertisements definitely have their place, and are used for many reasons, including:

  • Previous, inexperienced SEO work done poorly or improperly may have lead to the website being banned in one or all of the major search engines. Search Engines do not ban Paid Advertisements for obvious reasons.
  • The website in question may simply be in a market which is relatively too competitive to deserve top listing in the unpaid results. No one can guarantee top listings, see for more information about this.
  • Since roughly 30% of searchers click advertisements (see above), not having them means you are missing out on potential business. There will always be many who use advertisements.
  • Pay Per Click advertisements commonly yield higher conversion rates than those of organic visits due to better targeting capabilities.
  • Pay Per Click advertisement campaigns take into effect the same day they are launched. Search Engine Optimization, depending on the status of the website before optimization may take anywhere from a few weeks to several months to notice results from the optimization.

Importance of Pay Per Click Advertising

70% of US Adults use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services.

63% of those who make online purchases use search engines to research offerings before making a purchase.

62% of internet searchers never look beyond the top 10 search results

90% of internet searchers never look beyond the top 30 search results.

Paid Advertisements not only bring in targeted traffic, but are also useful in building a brand. In a recent study, 36% of internet users agreed with the following statement: "Seeing a company listed among the top results on a search engine makes me think that the company is a top one within its field."

If your Brand's website is not on one of the first three search engine result pages, it means that you don't exist to internet searchers.

Bjorn's Pay Per Click Campaign Process

PPC Advertising requires a good understand of internet marketing and experience with creating campaigns which best allow internet users - who's clicks you pay for - to convert, resulting in profit. As advertising shouldn't cost more than necessary, I take a careful approach that ensures maximum return on investment:

  • Considering PPC Campaigns - The success of Pay Per Clicks vary depending on the website design and content they lead to, it's market, and it's competition. Bjorn starts off by working directly with you to understand your advertising budget and desired performance, and will inform you of the possibilities available to you and your business with PPC Advertising.
  • PPC Campaign Research - After evaluating whether Paid Advertising is right for you, Bjorn will start researching how users search in manners profitable to you, and create campaigns which allow you to capture their attention and business. Bjorn works with clients to establish the best range of audiences and advertisements for your business.
  • PPC Campaign Development and Testing - After researching and having developed profitable campaigns for your business, Bjorn will run them through a testing period where he fine tunes the campaigns in order to maximize their performance, and ultimately your return on investment.
  • PPC Monitoring and Management - Depending on your needs Bjorn may continue managing and monitoring your campaigns. Search patterns and trends change quite frequently on the internet, and with Bjorn responsible for your campaigns he can guarantee their long term performance and success.